Referring now to FIG. 1, a functional block diagram of exemplary Internet connectivity is shown. A distributed communications system, such as the Internet 102, is connected to by various mobile phone provider networks, such as those shown at 104-1 and 104-2. In addition, Internet service providers, such as Internet service provider 106 connect to the Internet 102.
Mobile devices 108 connect to the mobile phone provider networks 104. Mobile devices 108-1 and 108-2 communicate with the mobile phone provider network 104-1. The mobile devices 108-1 and 108-2 communicate with each other and access the Internet 102 via the mobile phone provider network 104-1. Similarly, mobile devices 108-3, 108-4, and 108-5 communicate with the mobile phone provider network 104-2. The Internet service provider 106 provides connectivity to the Internet 102 for a desktop computer 110 and a laptop computer 112. A wireless access point (not shown) schematically located between the Internet service provider 106 and the laptop 112 provide wireless connectivity to the laptop computer 112.
Content servers 114 provide content, such as hypertext markup language (html) content, image content, video content, audio content, application content, etc. via the Internet 102. The content provided by the content servers 114 includes advertising related content, such as sale announcements, redeemable coupons, advertisements, and event notifications. This content is provided in a unidirectional client-server model, where the content is provided from the content servers 114 to end users via the mobile devices 108 or desktop/laptop computers 110/112.
Referring now to FIG. 2A, an information flow diagram presents a traditional mode of advertising content delivery. Content 200 includes sale announcements 202, coupons 204, advertisements 206, and event notifications 208. The content 200 is provided to print and electronic media 220, which is consumed by a consumer 222. In this traditional mode, the content 200 is published in the print and electronic media 220 without regard to individual characteristics of the consumer 222. For example, an advertisement is placed in a newspaper, which will then be the same for every reader of the newspaper, regardless of their individual interests. As another example, a banner advertisement is displayed at the top of a website. Again, this is not tailored to the individual interests of the consumer 222.
Advertisers infer general characteristics of the consumer 222 based on the categories of information and presentation of the print and electronic media 220. For example, advertisers could place computer advertisements at the top of a webpage dedicated to computer networking. However, no individual characteristics of the consumer 222 are taken into account.
Referring now to FIG. 2B, a more sophisticated example of content delivery according to the prior art is presented. The content 200 is managed by a delivery policy 250. The consumer 222 interacts with the Internet 102 using computers and computer-based mobile devices 252. An online context 254 of the consumer 222 is detected. The online context 254 includes the websites visited by the consumer 222 and the links followed by the consumer 222. The online context 254 is used by the delivery policy 250 to determine what content to provide to the consumer 222. The online context 254 is used to create a consumer profile 256 corresponding to the consumer 222. The delivery policy 250 uses the consumer profile 256 when selecting and distributing the content 200 to the consumer 222.
A physical context 258 of a consumer 222 is also detected with varying accuracy. An Internet protocol (IP) address of the consumer 222 is used to estimate a geographic location of the consumer 222. The physical context 258 is used by the delivery policy 250. In one example, when the online context 254 indicates that the consumer 222 has visited computer-related websites, and the physical context 258 indicates that the consumer 222 is likely in California, the delivery policy 250 uses this information to provide an event notification related to a San Francisco computer show to the consumer 222.